The Suitors
by TheHobbitWhoLivedOnFire
Summary: Merida's pursuits to find the right suitor have been difficult, and whenever knows what to expect from the three mysterious young men who try to win her hand in marriage. The three princes feel the same way, so they try to win not just her hand, but her heart-please ignore my bad summary :P
1. Prologue

**Author's Note: This chapter/prologue is set when Merida and her suitors are children. I know this has been done before, but the whole 'flashback' thing is just for this chapter. The rest will be set in Brave time.**

**Hope you enjoy :P**

"Merida! The lords and princes are here!"

The young princess responded to her mother's call, and ran towards her. In front of the king and queens were three men, three women, and three little boys that ran around their father's feet.

"Little tykes," exclaimed Fergus, Merida's father.

They quickly separated into groups, the women talking to Merida's mum and the men talking to Merida's dad. She was stuck playing with the three little boys, who looked like younger versions of their fathers. The first one was a skinny lad with long black hair and bit of blue war paint over his right arm. He introduced himself as Torrence and proudly exclaimed, "I, my dear friends, am the best archer in DunBroch!"

"I don't believe you!" said Merida. Torrence just flipped a strand of long, black hair out of his face.

"How 'bout I prove it?" he said with an air of foolish pride. Torrence picked up Merida's bow and a set of arrows. "I'll shoot right at that tree."

He got himself ready, pulled back the arrow, and let it go. The arrowhead barely scratched off a chink of the tree bark, and flew off into the forest.

Torrence looked abashed. He stared back at Merida and practically threw the bow at her. "As if _you _could do any better!"

The little redheaded girl grunted, and positioned her bow and her aim to the tree. She placed an arrow in her bow and adjusted it. She raised her steady arms, and with a quick hand, she let the arrow find its way and sink itself deep into the tree trunk.

The two other boys beside her began to applaud, and the one nearest her held out his massive hand to shake hers.

"My name—Ian." He said, as Merida shook his hand enthusiastically. "Good to meet you, Ian. I'm Merida." Ian was at least a head taller than all the other boys, and had dirty blonde hair with shy, brown eyes. By the way he spoke, Merida could tell that he wasn't very used to speaking in Scots, but if so, what language _did_ he speak in? Merida would try to find out later.

"I'm Abernathy." Said the boy beside him, who was small with spiked blonde hair and a dazed expression as he shook Merida's hand. He seemed very interesting—and _very _confused.

The little girl turned to Ian, who blushed slightly. "You're—pretty." He said with some struggle.

It was Merida's turn to go red. "Thank you."

She ran to her mother, who was talking to the three ladies that had arrived with the little boys (Merida assumed that these were their mothers). She tugged at the forest green dress of her mother until she looked down at her blue-eyed daughter.

"What is it, Merida?" she said, picking up the little girl and placing her on her lap. The three other women didn't seem to mind at all that their conversation had just been disrupted.

"Mum, why are these people here?"

Elinor (The queen, and Merida's mother) gave a very embarrassed laugh, and said, "These people are from the different clans, my dear." She began to point to the three ladies surrounding them. "That's Lady Macintosh, the mother of young Torrence over there…" she said, referring to the woman with the braided black hair that reached her waist, "…Lady MacGuffin, over here, mother of young Ian…" she pointed to the woman in the lime-green dress with dirty blonde hair that matched the little boy's.

"Your son said that I was pretty." Said Merida, making Lady MacGuffin laugh. "Oh, did he now?" she said with a heavy Scottish accent. All four of the women laughed.

"And over here, finally, is Lady Dingwall, Abernathy's mother."

"Hello," she said, with a calm and clear voice. This woman looked nothing like her son, save for the pale green eyes. She had long, brunette hair that reached to her knees, and a flowing blue gown that swept the grass.

"But mummy," said Merida, "You still haven't explained why they're here!"

Elinor gave her daughter a stern look, and finally said, "They are here in hope that you will get to know their sons."

"Why?"

The queen gave a sigh. "Well, you're going to have to know anyway—they're here because when you grow older, they will try to win your hand in marriage."

Merida seemed confused. "But mum—I'm only seven years old!"

"Oh well, just go on and play with them." Said her mother as she gave a sort of musical laugh. Her daughter leapt out of her arms and ran towards the three little boys.


	2. A day of Hell for Merida

Merida woke up to the usual sounds of any morning in the castle; Maudie shouting at her brothers for stealing the breakfast tarts, the wind blowing through the DunBroch trees, and a blue bird chirping outside Merida's window. Of course, the latter never usually happened, but it was a nice surprise.

The redheaded princess stood up and walked towards the open window. The little bird was small enough to fit inside her hand, but Merida just stroked the feathers on top of its head. It chirped happily as Merida smiled, thinking about her dream (though it wasn't so much of a dream as it was a memory).

Yes, it had happened before, but then when she was still a child she had no idea that she would actually have to _marry _one of them.

_Such impeccable timing_ thought the young princess, _that I had to remember that specific afternoon the very same day that the clans would be arriving._

Merida's attention was focused back on the blue bird.

"You're pretty lucky, you know?" she said as the bird looked up at her with beady black eyes, "You get to fly around all day, as free as you want. But me—"

Her finger found the birds neck and stroked it, making it chirp again. Having it around was peaceful; a great distraction for what she had to face later that day.

The bird stood still for a short time, and stared up at Merida, as if to say, "It's going to be fine, princess. Just have some faith."

She gave a short chuckle, and the bird flew off, leaving Merida staring out onto the skyline. Far away, she could see ships riding across the bay moving closer to DunBroch.

She sighed, and sat down on her bed. Merida was going to have to do this, whether she liked it or not.

The gown that Merida's mother had forced her into was—restraining, to say the least—she had never done anything like this before; she was to used to the freedom of the dark green dress that she wore everyday. She also missed the feeling of her bow and arrow in her hand, and the freedom she had when she shot through her target in the forest.

"Merida?" said her mother, snapping her out of her daze.

"Um—what is it, mum?"

The queen looked as if she had no idea what to say, but just smiled. "You look like a proper lady. I just—feel so proud."

_If proper ladies couldn't breathe through damn corsets, then I'd prefer not to. _

She stared at her mother, and while the queen was just observing her to see how she looked, Merida sort of gave her mother a look that said, "I'm sorry. I don't want to do this."

"My ladies!" Came Maudie's voice from the open door, "The Lords are here!"

The queen turned towards the maid. "Oh, um—yes, well, please tell them to wait outside the castle. Merida and I will be down to meet them in a minute."

Maudie ran down the stone steps and was gone, leaving the queen and the princess alone together once more.

"I think I'll go downstairs to your father. If you want to stay, just remember that you have to be in the Great Hall before the horn sounds, alright?"

Merida took no notice of what her mother had just said.

Seeing her daughter like this depressed Elinor. She never wanted it to happen like this, but she _had _to. It was going to happen _sometime,_ sooner or later.

"Merida," she said, "I know you don't want to do this, but—"

The princess stared at her mother with pleading blue eyes; the eyes of her father. "You know I don't mum."

She stroked a rebellious strand of hair out of her daughter's face. "Just—have some faith, alright?"

Merida was in a weak state that nobody had ever seen her in before, and was only willing to share her weakness with her mother. "If you want, mum—I'll try."

They both walked out of the room and into the Great Hall, and soon the clans had entered into the castle.


	3. Archery

**Author's Note: To OriginalSharkBiteGal, this is a re-telling f the movie. So glad you enjoyed! :))**

The Lords and there sons weren't as strange as Merida thought they would be, considering she had already seen them before. The first clan to present their suitor was Macintosh, and Merida recognized the cocky, self-centered air that hung around Torrence (Known just as 'Young Macintosh'). He was swinging his sword around, and Merida couldn't help but notice that when Lord Macintosh spoke of Torrence's exploits with the Northern Invaders, the story sounded a little made-up and overly rehearsed. And when the young man stared in the princess's direction, Merida grabbed the hood of her dress to cover her face.

The next suitor was the son of Lord MacGuffin. Merida recognized Ian, who looked even more nervous from when she met him as a child. And as much as she wanted to believe lord MacGuffin's story about how his son had vanquished the Viking long ships, Merida just couldn't bring herself up to do so. She did look at him though, as he broke a log in half.

The third and final suitor was a Dingwall. Now, Abernathy could pull off the dazed and mindless expression when he was younger, but as he grew with age everyone would be expecting him to be more focused on things. Merida felt a twinge of pity for both the young man _and _his father, even if Lord Dingwall was trying to hard to make his son sound like a vicious fiend, though his mannerism and appearance showed otherwise.

The most embarrassing part about the whole ordeal was that a fight had broken out between the clans, and Merida's father, King Fergus, joined in as well. As much as she tried to restrain herself, the princess couldn't help but keep laughing as Lord Macintosh was being bitten by Wee Dingwall.

Merida's mother gave her a stern look to quiet her down, and as she stood up, the young redhead couldn't help noticing how just by walking through the crowds the attention was focused on her. Everyone who saw her became quiet and still, and with every step her mother took, Merida kept hoping that this was a talent she _wouldn't _have to learn.

Then it was time for Merida to decide the first task in which the suitors would perform to see who would be worthier of her hand. There would be three tasks over the course of three weeks, and all the tasks were of Merida's choosing.

She stood up slowly, trying to pull off her best imitation of a lady. "I choose…" she began, folding her hands together, "…Archery."

Applause erupted in the masses of people, and all began to file out of the Great hall in preparation for the first contest. Merida was soon about to follow her excited father out onto the castle grounds when she felt a tap on her shoulder.

"You know, Merida," her mother whispered, "that was the same task I chose as well."

Even though the princess wasn't on very good terms with the queen, she smiled anyway, and they both headed for the archery ground.

Ian MacGuffin went first, and the bow that was given to him seemed too small, therefore he had trouble pulling the string of the bow back to shoot the arrow. When he let it fly and it found its way to the outermost ring of the target. You could hear Lord MacGuffin shouting angrily at Ian.

Merida was reminded of how she had tried to teach him archery when they were younger. _Still hasn't changed _she thought.

Next was Torrence Macintosh, the arrogant and proud prince with the long black hair. Proud of what, Merida wasn't sure as his arrow just missed the center of the target by a few centimeters. He started a huge tantrum, and smashed his fists against the ground.

"Well, _that's_ attractive," said Merida as Torrence threw his bow out into the sea of people.

The last suitor to fire was Wee Dingwall, with the arrow continuing to move out of his proper grasp. _Oh, wee lamb _Merida thought, though her father was feeling neither pity nor patience.

"Oh geez," he said, leaning forward in his wooden throne, "SHOOT BOY!"

With a scared jolt, Abernathy let the arrow fly, and to everyone's surprise, it hit the center of the target in a clean bulls eye.

The whole Dingwall clan cheered, a little exaggerated. They hadn't won yet, but they did have a bit of an advantage later on in the next challenges. Merida couldn't care less about whether or not he won; she was just glad she could have some rest after a very eventful day.


	4. Young MacGuffin

After the first contest, Merida had the rest of the week free to do what she wanted. Her mother would pop in to give her a few lessons, but most of the time the queen would be attending to the guests, so she didn't badger Merida so much about being a lady.

A few days before the second contest was due, Merida found herself walking cheerfully around the castle. She didn't have any lessons today, and she was just about ready to go out into the forest to shoot in her special clearing.

When she got to the barn, however, there was someone already there, sitting on a wooden stool.

"Um…" Merida said, "Excuse me?"

The person sitting in the barn turned out to be Young MacGuffin, who was holding a knife and a small piece of wood.

"Princess!" he shouted, his broad figure hitting against the barn wall, startling the horses. "Aye, sorry."

Merida was slightly shocked to hear that he wasn't speaking in Doric.

"You—you spoke!"

"Wha?" said Young MacGuffin, "Oh, ya. Well, I hope yer not too surprised."

The redhead took a step forward towards the large boy. "No, it's fine, but—" she tossed a lock of hair out of her face, "Why don't you actually speak when you're around other people?"

He nervously touched the back of his head. "Um—well," he folded his hands together, "I guess it was yer parents."

She looked at him, confused. "What?"

"You know—Yer mum's intimidatin'. And yer dad scared me out of my wits when I first saw him."

The two stared at each other for a short while, and Merida couldn't help but burst out laughing.

"What—what're you laughin' about?"

"Sorry," said Merida through gasps of air. She stopped her laughter and patted MacGuffin's shoulder. "Don't worry. You don't have anything to worry about my dad—unless of course, you're Mordu."

The two of them both laughed at this and Merida's eyes fell on the small piece of wood. She could see that before she had interrupted MacGuffin, he had been carving something that looked like a small statue.

"Um, may I ask what that is?"

Ian could see that the princess was referring to the wooden carving, which looked so small and dainty in his massive hand.

"Oh," he said, raising it up for Merida to see properly, "Just—something I was workin' on earlier."

In his hand was a small statue of an archer, riding on the back of the lion. Merida couldn't help noticing that the archer was a female, her bow and arrow poised and ready to strike. The lion was in mid-roar, its paws rising in the air.

"That's beautiful," she said, and Ian couldn't help but blush.

"You could keep it if you want," he said, handing the figurine to Merida, "I can make an' 'undred of these."

She looked at it, and gently took it from Young MacGuffin's hand. "Um—thank you, Ian."

He stared at the redheaded princess, and she stared back, meeting his brown eyes.

"How'd you know me first name?"

Merida only realized then that the suitors probably didn't remember the time that they met as children, and felt stupid to have said MacGuffin's real name.

"Sorry, I just—"

"Nah, it's fine." Ian placed a hand on Merida's shoulder, "It's a nice change."

For no reason (or at least one she couldn't identify), she placed her hand on top of his, and they stared at each other for a moment. Merida took this silence to look into his eyes, which looked to be two-toned: on one side a light brown, and on the other a darker, like chocolate. The two colors seemed to effortlessly blend into each other…

"I think I better get back to the tent," he said, letting his large hand fall to his side, "Dad'll be wonderin' where I've gone."

And with that he was off, leaving Merida alone in the old barn with the little wooden statue held tight in her hand.


End file.
